In the art of electronic module assemblies it has become standard practice to provide modular cabinetry whereby a backplane mother board provides a connective nesting ground for a series of slide-in printed wiring boards, often called "daughter-boards".
Very often such cabinetry may involve a series of guide slides whereby 15 or 20 or more printed wiring boards must be guided and connected to the backplane mother board. Sometimes the printed wiring boards which are inserted are of considerable large size having multiple numbers of electronic components and cooling devices which may have a weight of 10 to 15 pounds or more per single printed wiring board.
In any case, it has long been a problem of how to insure that the printed wiring board will remain stably connected to the backplane mother board in a vibration-free condition, whereby jars or bumps or vibratory situations will not cause damage to the printed wiring board, nor loosen its connective contact with the backplane mother board.
Additionally, another problem is to provide for the easy removal of the printed wiring boards from the mother board when it is desired to disconnect the mother board and remove it from the assembly. This must be done with sufficient capability so as not to damage the printed wiring board while attempting removal of the board.
To this end, the following described system for locking/ejection of a printed wiring board has been developed which will efficiently and inexpensively solve the problems of vibration stability and lock-in of even a large size printed wiring board, in addition to providing easy ejectability.
In the prior art the problems of extracting a printed circuit board or printed wiring board from its guiding slot and connection have been sufficiently recognized as to require different types of "extractor" mechanisms. Other prior art operations have recognized the problems of insertion of large size printed wire boards which require considerable force to make a proper connection. Certain manufacturers have attempted to provide insertion devices to permit leverage to the printed wiring board which will allow the heavy connecting forces to be overcome easily in order to provide a solid set of connections to the mother board. For example, one printed wiring board connected to a mother board backplane may have over 200 interconnect contacts.
Likewise, after a large size printed wiring board has been inserted into its mother board, it may require considerable force just to merely break the connection and eject the printed wiring board. This again is a problem to which design attention must be devoted.
These large scale problems of insertion and ejection of printed wiring boards in multiple assembly can now be handled in a most simple and uniform manner without undue expense by means of the presently disclosed combination of a lock/ejector system described herein.